Our view: State government has no place in a girl's abortion decision.

The wrenching decision whether to have an abortion is inherently personal —— and none of the government's business. Voters should reject Proposition 73, which would alter California's Constitution to ban abortions for girls unless their doctors notify their parents.

On the surface, Prop. 73 seems fairly reasonable. After all, children under 18 must get a parent's permission before receiving routine medical care or getting a piercing at the mall, so what's wrong with forcing doctors to tell a parent or guardian about a minor's impending abortion?

For one thing, California's girls have been doing fine without parental notification. Rates of teen pregnancies and abortions have been falling for years. Studies suggest that most girls tell their parents already.

Other studies have concluded that abortions have not declined in the 35 states that require parental consent or notification.

So Prop. 73 is not needed, and it won't work to reduce abortions. What it will do is force some desperate teenagers into the shadowy and dangerous world of illegal abortions.

Supporters point out that girls who feared retribution from abusive parents could ask a court to act as a guardian under Prop. 73. This is a cruel joke; imagine a girl who is pregnant, probably poor, and perhaps suffering under an abusive parent —— what are the odds she will call a lawyer or otherwise enter the judicial system?

To be sure, we all want fewer abortions in the world. And we all want teenagers to communicate better with their parents.

But just as surely, there is no place for government in either of these worthy goals. Prop. 73 seeks to do two offensive things at once: It would let the state diminish a young woman's right to choose to end her pregnancy, and the ballot initiative would insert a vast bureaucracy —— complete with civil penalties for health care providers —— into the relationships among a doctor, a pregnant girl and her parents.

Prop. 73 is a hurdle, plain and simple, placed before pregnant girls by people who want to roll back abortion rights more broadly. They must be rejected on Nov. 8.

Vote "no" on Prop. 73.